Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I hear the Labor opposition heckling on this point, but people have the right to raise concerns. It's called democracy and it's called debate. It's called the ability for people to make contributions and for the committee process to do its usual work. That is the point that we're going to be making and making strongly when this bill goes to the Senate.

I thank the House for hearing this contribution, but I hope that it is listened to with a bit more respect, at least from the Labor Party, when the matter goes to the Senate, because we in the Greens are taking a very clear approach. It is time for this country to end the top-down approach to dealing with First Nations people. It is time to genuinely listen and consult. That includes consulting with people whose rights are going to be affected. One of the things that we have seen here in this parliament is Labor and Liberal routinely stitch up deals that hurt First Nations people.

An honourable member interjecting—

I remember sitting here—if the member interjecting wants to interject and defend this, he is more than welcome—when legislation was rushed through this place to ensure that projects like Adani could proceed, even when traditional owners were saying, 'We don't want it.' This place got called together for an urgent hearing because we had to pass legislation, hopefully with no-one complaining until it came in, and the Greens stood up for the First Nations owners and traditional owners as Labor and Liberal tried to take away their land rights.

Whenever you see something come up in here, we have got the right to scrutinise it, because even now—even now—we see it in the Northern Territory with the Beetaloo Basin. We see it with the Adani traditional owners, the W and J clan. We see First Nations communities and traditional owners come to this place to say, 'No, we don't want this mining or this extraction on our land that is going to risk our water and make the climate crisis worse and remove our connection with country.' Time after time after time Labor and Liberal sit in here to do dodgy deals and rush legislation through parliament to take away people's land rights, so excuse me, Labor Party, if, when it comes to having one of the most significant reforms to land rights legislation, we want to ask some questions and apply a bit of scrutiny, rather than just being the Liberal Party's lapdogs.

Opposition members interjecting—

Yes, they are in government, the Labor Party interjects, which is why we need to scrutinise what they do. They have got an appalling track record on protecting and advancing the rights of First Nations people in this country, so it would be nice if we didn't get heckled for saying we want to scrutinise this bill when this government has such a terrible record, including with the Labor Party's support, on taking away the land rights of First Nations owners and traditional owners of this country. Yes, we will be looking closely at this bill, as every member of this parliament should. Labor and Liberal have a terrible reputation for siding with the big mining corporations over traditional owners and rushing legislation through this place to make the climate crisis worse by taking away First Nations owners' rights, so I will not be lectured about applying scrutiny to government legislation. That is what we are here for. At any time the government comes in here and says, 'We want to streamline provisions of the law to give mining corporations a greater say and amend land rights,' we're entitled to ask questions about it and we will ask questions about it.

Opposition members interjecting—

I hope that there is a rigorous committee process with respect to this legislation. If you want to heckle about something, Labor Party, and you want to consider your position, consider your position on coming in here and legislating to take away land rights and the rights of traditional owners to stand up to the mining corporations, which you do time after time after time. Enough is enough. There will be no climate justice in this country without First Nations justice, and that includes giving people the right to say no to coal and gas and oil exploration on their land. I know the Labor Party is up to its neck in donations from the gas corporations, just as the Liberal Party is, but that's no excuse. That's no excuse for not applying the scrutiny we need to ensure that self-determination becomes the key principle of everything we do in this country when it comes to our First Nations peoples.

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